THE TRAIL OF THE CAVALIERS 



BY LEE WOODWARD ZEIGLER. 



Drawings by the Writer and Alden Peirson. 



EXICO has been lik- 

 ened to Egypt, the 

 Holy Land, to old 

 Spain. The daugh- 

 ter of Castile, it is 

 not unnatural that 

 she should bear to 

 the mother country 

 a strong family likeness. But old as 

 that phase of her civilization is — it is 

 nearly four hundred years since Cortez 

 landed with his Cavaliers at the point 

 where he founded the city of the Only 

 True Cross — it is built upon the ruins 

 of one more ancient still. 



Note. — Tn complying with the request of a number 

 of readers, we have been much interested in the 

 preparation of this article. Seemingly, our sub- 

 scribers who travel are turning their eyes to new 

 fields or very old fields which have not been thor- 

 oughly covered by the tourist armies. There are a 

 lot of things yet to be learned about the North 

 American continent, even by those familiar with the 

 country, things which have been accepted as our 

 own with quasi-satisfaction. If this timely article 

 opens the eyes of our readers, then we will feel 

 that in answering the question asked us we have 

 accomplished a double purpose. — Editor. 



With the exercise of a little fancy, 

 the boats that surround our steamer as 

 she drops anchor off the mole at Vera 

 Cruz, filled with clamoring natives, 

 urging upon the tourist all manner of 

 tropical fruits, become the canoes that 

 put off for a closer look at the strange 

 craft with high poops and wing-like 

 sails, which seem to the simple Indians 

 to be visitants from another world. 



The City of Mexico, or, as it is com- 

 monly called throughout the Republic, 

 "The City," is the ancient Tenochithan, 

 the home of the lordly Montezuma, and 

 the scene of the last fierce struggle, led 

 by the heroic Chief Guatemotzin 

 against the invading Spaniards, of 

 which so many memorials remain. 

 Where stands the parish church of San 

 Hipolite, existed, in the year 1520, the 

 second line of defense on the causeway 

 that connected the city with the main- 

 land. At this point, during the retreat 

 of the Spaniards upon the memorable 

 Dismal Night (la Noche Triste), the 



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